The Minnesota Golden Gophers and football coach Jerry Kill have tied the knot for a whopping seven years. If there was a honeymoon period, I must have missed it. A little older and a little wiser, twice-burned athletic director Joel Maturi did insist on a prenuptial agreement this time around, however.

The divorce rate in this country is just below 50 percent. But that figure is misleading. The rate rises significantly with each additional remarriage. This is Maturi’s third time to the altar with a football coach. The chances of a third marriage succeeding are about 27 percent, according to the most recent census statistics.

His first marriage, to Glen Mason, was more of a shotgun wedding. Mason already was waiting at the altar when Maturi got here, so he had little choice but to go through with the ceremony, although that later contract extension was rather ill-advised.

After a messy and expensive divorce, Maturi did what a lot of newly divorced guys do. He fell for the first silver-tongued devil that came along. Thus we experienced the tumultuous Tim Brewster era. That divorce also was expensive, although perhaps not quite so messy. At the end, both sides appeared to be mutually sick of each other.

This time Maturi went looking for a homespun, down-to-earth type of coach who he’d be proud to bring home to meet the family. Kill is about as straightforward and uncomplicated as an ear of corn. Whereas Mason was slick, Kill appears to be without guile. While Brewster could talk the bees out of the hive, Kill seems to relate every situation to his own family life.

“Coach, how was it that your opponents were able to score 50 points on Saturday?”

“Well, all I know is I been married 29 years …”

In other words, Kill is a pair of sensible shoes in the closet full of Giorgio Armanis that is big time college football.

I think he is a good man, with solid values, extensive football knowledge and a terrific work ethic. I also have no idea if he can get the job done. There’s no way of knowing, really, except to wait and see how it all turns out. Early clues never tell us anything. Jerry certainly says all the right things, but we’ve heard them all before. The road to the unemployment line is paved with good intentions.

The original plan was for Kill to sign a five-year contract. But after rolling into town and eyeballing the program up close, he asked for seven. He probably should have held out for 12. At least with the pre-nup, if Maturi has to do his Henry VIII impression again it won’t cost him quite so much.

Maturi can separate from Kill at any time by paying him one-half of what is left on his seven-year agreement. That seems fair, since most coaches wind up needing years of expensive therapy after they leave here.

But if everything goes well, there should be a bit of hope on the horizon within a couple of years. OK, stop thinking about the Rose Bowl and all that other foolishness. We’re talking about respectability. That could be within reach if, in fact, Kill turns out to be on top of things.

The short and intermediate goals for the program should be simple enough: schedule and beat four nonconference cupcakes and win two Big Ten games. Voila, there could be a bowl appearance in there somewhere. That approach worked well for Mason and it could work for Kill. The problem is strengthening the program to where it can beat those four cupcakes. Right now, it can’t.

As for the long-term goals, I don’t know. We’ve never gotten that far.

This is Maturi’s last trip to the altar. If he has to fire another football coach, he’ll be booted out the door right behind him. A more likely scenario is that Maturi retires, or maybe even moves on, well before Kill’s contract expires. It would be great if the new coach proves capable and the program winds up in good hands.

If not, well, we’ll do this all over again. A new athletic director and a new football coach will walk down the aisle at some future date. And prospective divorce lawyers will be filling the first six rows of the chapel.

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